Following the success of the 2019 campaign, this year’s World Food Safety Day (WFSD) will continue to promote awareness and call all players in the farm-to-fork continuum to take part in the food safety movement.

Under the theme “Food safety, everyone’s business”, the international day of commemoration encourages everyone who grows, processes, transports, stores, distributes, sells, prepares, serves, and consumes food; goodwill ambassadors; social media influencers and the general public, especially the youth to make a sustained difference in food safety.

WFSD will be celebrated on June 7 to draw attention and inspire action to prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks. Through this campaign, the World Health Organization stresses the essence of good governance and regulations in enabling food safety as a shared responsibility.

In addition, the campaign lays down five calls to action towards making a difference in food safety. One, governments must ensure safe and nutritious food for all by complying with the international standards established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). Two, agriculture and food producers need to adopt good practices while ensuring a sufficient supply of safe food at a global level. Three, business operators must make sure food is safe by enforcing protocols from primary production to final consumption. Four, all consumers have a right to safe, healthy, and nutritious food. And last, collaboration is needed at many levels, across sectors within a government and across borders.

With this, the Agricultural Training Institute joins the National Codex Organization—the sole body representing the Philippines to the CAC. Through training activities on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), agricultural extension workers and farmers learn various practices in reducing the risk of contamination during on-farm production and post-production processes. Likewise, GAP addresses environmental protection and management, food safety, workers’ health, safety, and welfare, as well as product quality.

Know more about this event by visiting www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/world-food-safety-day/about/en/ and follow the hashtag #WORLDFOODSAFETYDAY.